The present invention relates to navigation units and methods of operating the same and, more particularly, to outputting a particular position from a navigation unit.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based radio triangulation system using a constellation of satellites in orbit around the earth. A GPS receiver triangulates its position based on timing of radio signals it receives from various ones of the satellites and the known location of those satellites.
Determining the position of a GPS receiver typically requires the acquisition of a set of navigational parameters from the navigational data signals of four or more GPS satellites. In some cases, the GPS receiver may not be integrated with a navigation application. This may present difficulties if a user desires to store a particular position for later retrieval. For example, many conventional GPS receivers are compatible with standard navigation applications that run on a mobile phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Personal Computer (PC) or the like. Conventional GPS receivers, however, do not provide a way to store a location for later retrieval. Instead, the navigation application is launched on another device and the user interface associated with the navigation application is used to retrieve a current position output from the GPS receiver for storage. Unfortunately, the navigation application may not be running at the time a user determines he/she would like to store a location. If the user is traveling in a vehicle at a relatively rapid rate of speed, then by the time the navigation application is launched and the current position of the GPS receiver is retrieved, the desired location may be an unacceptable distance away.